Overview

Flat owners frequently find it productive to form a residents committee within the building to represent their interests.  Residents committees come in many forms and are sometimes also known in the building as residents’ associations, right to manage companies, and resident management companies.

In this section, you will learn all about what a resident committee is, how to go about forming a residents committee and running it effectively as well as the legal liabilities of the people running the committee.  If you have more questions, require further clarification, or want to suggest an article don’t forget to contact us, comment on an article or leave a comment in our forum.

Cleaning in blocks of flats

Resident expectations from an ideal cleaning company in a less than ideal world.

Is your residents association formally recognised?

In the series of plain-English legal articles, Yashmin Mistry, Solicitor in the Leasehold Enfranchisement Department of Brethertons LLP continues to discuss Residents Associations.  

SETTING UP A Residents’ committee

Getting a group of leaseholders together to help things run smoothly in your building is advisable. Yashmin Mistry, solicitor in the leasehold enfranchisement department of Brethertons LLP, highlights the legal need-to-knows What is a Residents’ Association?A tenants’ or residents’ association is a group of leaseholders who have been granted leases from the same Landlord on similar terms and which leases include provisions for the payment of variable service charges.To be effective, a residents’ association should be formally recognised.

The Woes of Being a Director

Within the Oxford Concise English Dictionary there are many meanings of the word ‘woe’.  Examples being: bitter grief, distress, calamities, troubles, problems, (told me a tale of woe), woe betide there will be unfortunate consequences. 

We need volunteer directors - but

... the Government is scaring them off. By Jane Barry

Q: I’ve been asked to become a Director of the residents management company for my block, but I’m not sure what the implications of this are. Can you help?

Practical banking issues facing the self-manager

One of the most immediate concerns of a residents’ board when a block goes self-managed is to keep leaseholders’ money safe. The second is to invest it prudently. By James Thomson

Payment where payment is due

Property managers frequently complain that they would be able to manage their properties far more efficiently if only lessees would pay their service charges on time. Getting lessees to pay what is due is for some property managers a full time job, leaving little time to spend actually doing what they do best (i.e. manage properties). By Shaun Jardine

Do you need a tenants association?

A Tenant’s Association is a group of flat owners who have flats either on lease or tenancy from the same Landlord on similar terms which make provision for the payment of service charges.

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How Far Eastern Quality Beat the Credit Crunch

If you're going to fall victim to the recent credit crunch, you might as well do it in style. Fallout from the financial downturn was felt across London's Canary Wharf district, but nowhere was it more obvious than at Ballymore's flagship residential development, Pan Peninsula.

The Common Wasp: Friend or Foe?

For many people, the summertime means enjoying relaxing picnics in the sun. There is one particular insect associated with this season however, which evokes fear, distress and annoyance in many picnic goers: the common wasp. Despite being a pest species, many people don't realise how interesting and complex these social insects are. So should we treat wasps with fear or admiration?

Tax for flats

The recent hike in capital gains tax to 28% by the new coalition Government has been met with caution by the property industry, as it will affect many who have invested in flats.

IFAS Prefer Commercial to Residential property

More financial advisers think their clients should consider commercial property as an investment compared with residential property, according to the latest survey of Independent Financial advisers (IFas) by rEITa.

Flats Rise - slowly

The latest Government house building data shows that the number of starts rose in the first three months of this year to the best level since the second quarter of 2008. Despite this, starts are currently only running at around 50% of the level achieved at the high water mark of the previous cycle.

Leaseholders group won't be left in the cold

The Federation of Private Residents Associations has called for a change to the Landlord and Tenant Act that would allow for ‘reasonable' insulation to be carried out to blocks of flats as part of the service charge.

Mainstay acquires Market Focus

Mainstay group , the national property management and facilities company, has purchased Market Focus Asset Management (MFAM) based in London. MFAM specialise in the management of mixed use, residential and commercial property.

Managing to Win

Over 50 property managers celebrated together in London as England beat Slovenia in the FIFa world Cup 2010. The event was jointly hosted by News on the Block and Sky Homes.

RMG wins £400k of Business in North

RMG property management has successfully generated over £400k worth of business from the north of England.  Justin Herbert, RMG's Operations Director for the North, said: "Customers recognise the benefi t of regular site visits, full transparency and accessibility to Property Managers, quarterly meetings and site audits, as well as the value for money and customer service provided by RMG."

New Home, New Leader for Stonedale

Stonedale, the specialist London based property management company has appointed Andrew Lyle as its new Head of Operations. Andrew boasts a career that spans over 20 years in property management, having worked for a number of high profi le managing agents in London. In the 18 months since joining the Stonedale team as a Senior Property Manager, he has managed developments in Docklands, Limehouse and Clerkenwell.